NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. g^y 



644. — Sterna uehgu, LiLhtL-nsteiu. — (601 ami 60"2) 

 Tlialaxaeti-1 criitutus, Blytli. 

 2'. pu/ioccrciis, Gould. 



CRESTED TERN. 



Hgure. — Gould : Birds nf Australia, fol., vol.\ii., pis 2j and 24- 



Refercncc. — Cal. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. .\xv., p. 89. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of Australia (1848) , 

 also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 395 (1865); Hume : Nests and Eggs 

 of Indian Birds (1875), also (Gates' ed.) vol. iii., p. 297 (1890) ; 

 Legge : Birds of Ceylon, p. 1029 (iSSoJ, also Proc. Roy Soc , 

 Tasmania, p, 130 (18S8) : North : Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 354, 

 pi. 19, fig. 2 (1889). 



Geographical Distribution. — Seas of Australia and Tasmania; also 

 Polynesia and the islands of the Pacific up to Havyaii Ai'chipelago, 

 Jlalayan Archipelago, China Seas up to Japan, Indian Ocean, Arabian 

 and Red Seas, and South Afiicaj both sides. 



Ne.it. — A slight depression in the sand or shingle, overgrown with 

 pig-face weed or other short herbage, the only lining being occasionally 

 pieces of sea-weed. Nests in colonies, usually on isolated rocks or islets. 



Egga. — Clutch, one (northem vaa-iety), two (southern variety) ; oval 

 in form, or more or less pointed at one end ; textiue of shell coarse ; 

 surface, faint trace of gloss ; colovu', varies much, but usually stony-grey, 

 fancifully streaked with hieroglyphic-like markings of dark sepia or black, 

 others have the markings in the fonn of smudges or blotches ; some 

 examples from the Tropics axe of exceptional beauty, having a pinkish- 

 white or roseate-coloured giotind, blotched or streaked, as the case may 

 be, with dark or rich reddish-brown and pui-plish-brown. Dimensions 

 in inches of examples from the west coast : (1) 2-55 x r64, (2) 2'42 x 1-66 ; 

 from the north: (1) 2-44 x 1-6, (2) 2-36 x 1-62; from the south: 

 (1) 2-32 X 1-58, (2) 2-3 x 1-59. (Plate 24.) 



Ohaervations. — This large and handsome Tern, distinguished by its 

 yellowish-bill, besides frequenting the Australian seas, is found in 

 numerous other parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. 



There has been much disputing whether there are allied species of 

 this bird. Gould recognized two, pointing out the Ton-es Strait Tern, 

 which he figured &s,.pelccaii<iidex, as diff'ering from its near ally the Bass 

 Strait Tern ( poliocerca) in its much lai'ger bill and in being a much 

 stouter bird. However, Mr. Saunders, an eminent .authoiity on sea- 

 birds, has bunched both as Sterna hergii. 



Upon this point Colonel Legge, author of the " Birds of Ceylon," 

 argues with some force : " Terns of wide range vary much in size, and 

 the Bass Strait Tern is the smallest fonn of the Crested Tern of the 

 Indian Seas, the gi'adation in size, however, in specimens from both 

 localities being so regular that the southern bird is /not considered by 

 Mr. Saunders to hold its own as a distinct species. When examining 



